The reclusive poet Philip Larkin is to become the subject of an interactive
tourist trail in Hull as part of events to mark the 25th anniversary of his
death.

Larkin spent 30 years in the northern port city working as a university librarian at the same time as he created some of his most famous works, including The Whitsun Weddings – recently-voted Britain's most popular poem – and High Windows.

He shunned the limelight, refusing to appear on television and turning down a request to become Poet Laureate after John Betjeman's death.

But Hull has decided to celebrate his life with a five-month festival to coincide with the 25th anniversary of his death.

Among the principal attractions for Larkin25 is an interactive tourist trail of all the places that inspired the grumpy but much-loved poet's work.

Among them is Paragon train station, where Larkin starts his journey to London one "sunlit Saturday" in The Whitsun Weddings. In December, the festival will culminate there with the unveiling of a statue of Larkin.

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Also on the trail is Larkin's workplace, the Brynmor Jones Library, the inspiration for his commentary on paid work, Toads, and his university lodgings at the top floor of a house in Pearson Park, which prompted him to use the title High Windows for his last major poetry collection.

Larkin's home in the mid-70s, Newland Park, is also included along with the home of his lover Maeve Brennan and the shops, restaurants and pubs where the poet, who worked as a jazz critic for The Daily Telegraph for ten years, drank and listened to his favourite music.

More intrepid fans can then follow the trail out to the East Ridings countryside and the old churches Larkin used to visit on his bicycle.

Graham Chesters, a retired professor of French at Hull University and a member of the Philip Larkin Society, who is helping to organise the tour, said that as well as the negative image of Larkin the racist and misogynist as revealed by the personal letters published after his death, visitors would be encouraged to celebrate his versatility.

"The idea behind Larkin25 is to engage as many people as possible of all ages and all ethnic groups in creativity. We are not just saying look at Larkin the poet," he told The Independent. "He wrote novels, he was a great jazz lover and reviewer, he was a photographer and a great doodler."

He conceded that Larkin would be bemused by the attention now being lavished on his memory and the celebration of his links with Hull.

"I suspect he would be relatively unimpressed by the idea and that is a question we have been asking ourselves," he said. "He didn't have much time for anywhere and in his correspondence he does wonder why he is in Hull. But in many ways it was ideal for a poet."

Jean Hartley, his publisher, whose book Philip Larkin's Hull and East Yorkshire provided the trail template, said the trail might go some way to reviving Larkin in the eyes of many.

"Anyone who takes the trail will see a lot of Hull that they would not normally see and hopefully bring them closer in touch with Larkin and the places he loved," he said.